St. Nectan is one of the most
celebrated saints in the West of England, although details from his
life-story are rather sparse. He is chief amongst the Cornish list of
children of King Brychan Brycheiniog,
usually said to have been the eldest.

Nectan sailed south from Wales and
landed on the Corno-Devon border at Hartland Point. He found a beautiful
valley there, at Stoke St. Nectan near Hartland, with a never-failing
spring. He built a little church and a hermitage, forty paces away next to
a spring (now called St. Nectan's Well), and
lived there many years. He also had a small retreat at the head of St.
Nectan's Kieve (or Tub - the hollow at the foot of a waterfall) at Trethevey. It is said that the Knights
of the Round Table gathered there to consult with him before
setting out on their quest to find the Holy
Grail. St. Nectan tended to the needs of the poor throughout
Devon, Cornwall and even on a trip to Brittany, where churches dedicated to him may be
found. He once helped a swineherd find his lost pigs and, in return, was
given two cows who provided his daily comestible needs. Most of Nectan's
siblings followed him from Wales and were instrumental in evangelising the
south-west. They saw Nectan as their leader and gathered every New Year's
Eve at Stoke to talk with him.

Eventually, Nectan's two cows were
stolen by bandits. He tracked them to New Stoke, took them back and tried
to convert his persecutors to Christianity. For all his hard work, they
struck off his head! Legend says Nectan picked up the severed object and
returned, with it, to his chapel at Stoke; and wherever drops of his blood
fell, foxgloves sprang up. This occurred on 17th June AD
510. His body was translated to a more fitting shrine in the 1030s and
later looked after by the Austin Canons who built an Abbey nearby.

Little historical credit is given to
the Cornish lists of the children of Brychan and many scholars believe
they only indicate that the named persons originated in South Wales. Nectan's name is Pictish and some think he has been confused with Noethon
ap Gildas who is known to have come from
the North. Prof. Charles Thomas, meanwhile, believes that Nectan is, in
fact, a corruption of the name Brychan: father and son being one
and the same. He identifies Lundy Island as Brychan's mysterious burial
place, Ynys Brychan, from where his body was removed to Stoke in
the 7th century.